Life with a small child involves the near constant cleaning of such articles as baby bottles, bottle liners, nipples, nipple rings, sippy cups, teething devices, and toys. Each of these articles must be repeatedly cleaned to avoid the spread of germs and bacteria to the child and caregiver. Many times this involves hand washing the articles. Hand washing, however, is time consuming, requires large volumes of water, and requires the care giver to direct his or her attention away from the child. Also, in many instances, hand washing does not achieve sufficient cleanliness and sterilization of the articles.
Another option is to use a conventional dishwasher. However, the use of a conventional dishwasher also has its drawbacks. Namely, infant articles are often small and do not take up large amounts of space. Thus, if the dishwasher is exclusively used for these articles, large amounts of empty space are left within the dishwasher. This is, of course, wasteful and inefficient. Conversely, washing infant articles along with non-infant articles is not preferred because it results in the infant articles being subjected to food or debris that they would not otherwise be exposed to.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a dedicated appliance for the convenient washing of small items, such as baby bottles and other infant accoutrements. There also exists a need in the art for a small appliance that does not need to be coupled to an external source of water and which can be used on a kitchen countertop. The present invention substantially fulfills this need.